To paraphrase a bit from their introduction at the beginning of the episode, Lattes With Leia aims to be an inclusive show free of the “true fan” mentality that can be so repressive in some fandom circles. It will focus on the female point of view. Rather than chasing down all the latest news, it will be more of a conversation about the fandom and the deeper meaning of the stories and characters.

As someone who tries to balance staying spoiler-free with finding places online to discuss Star Wars, I’m glad to have a podcast that will offer an emphasis on discussing existing elements rather than focusing on obsessing over every scrap of news regarding the upcoming films. And having followed Amy on Twitter for several years, I feel confident in assuring people that if and when they do discuss any of the upcoming films, she’s the type to fact-check and squash rumors when people on social media start getting carried away with repeating un-sourced speculation as fact.

The first episode, A Rey Of Hope, focused–as you might have guessed–on Rey. I enjoyed in particular the psychological underpinnings of the character rounding out the discussion and providing extra layers.

At an hour long, it was a good length for the show: enough time to really sink their teeth into the topic at hand and short enough not to drag on. The only negative I can report is that the premiere episode of Lattes With Leia will make you want to open your wallet and head back to the theater for another viewing of The Force Awakens.

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Please note. This post contains major spoilers from The Force Awakens.

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Hasbro has struck again with their release of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens Monopoly set. The film’s central protagonist was not included in the figures. Instead, Darth Vader–who does not appear in the film–and Luke Skywalker, who is only in the film for roughly 30 seconds and has zero dialog, are among the choices.

A Hasbro spokesperson took to Twitter in response to the criticism and claimed that Rey was excluded so that her final battle with Kylo Ren would not be spoiled. They did not deign to elaborate exactly how her figure would spoil this one scene, or why they couldn’t conceive of a way to include her that didn’t do so.

It seems like a flimsy excuse, especially as Rey has two other weapons–her staff and the blaster Han Solo gives her–which her figure could have wielded in lieu of the lightsaber she uses in her showdown with Ren. It’s especially galling in light of the fact that fear of spoilers hasn’t hampered the release of Kylo Ren merchandise in the slightest. That’s probably by virtue of the fact that it’s not in any way, shape, or form necessary to divulge even a single plot point when selling a toy. And, as previously stated, she wields not one but two other weapons besides the lightsaber.

Rey has also been left out of the Millennium Falcon playset (ie, the ship she repaired and piloted), which features Chewbacca, Finn, and BB-8, and multiple other sets have her replaced with generic stormtroopers.

This is sadly business as usual for non-princess Disney characters. Black Widow has been excluded from the majority of Avengers merchandise; a LEGO set went so far as to replace her in the scene where she rides a motorcycle out of the jet by Iron Man, the guy who doesn’t need a motorcycle because his suit is capable of flight. Gamora of Guardians of the Galaxy had even less merchandise, troubling in light of the fact that the raccoon and tree were deemed more worthy of representation.

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I decided that this was the year I was going to sit down and make myself watch this most infamous entry in the Star Wars saga, the two-hour Holiday Special that aired only once.

It’s so horrifying that it’s…er, well, no, I can’t actually claim it’s good. But it’s the sort of trainwreck a person really should see at least once in their lives. What’s the point of living if you never see an Imperial Guard with a 70s porno ‘stache and Maude breaking into a song and dance routine to chivy alien patrons out of her bar?

The amazing part is that I live-tweeted the entire experience and didn’t lose a single follower. Your mileage may vary and I suggest having a drink or two beforehand to get a pleasant buzz going. Here it is, the Star Wars Holiday Special. May the Force be with you (trust me, you’ll need all the help you can get!):

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I’ve been struggling to get my Force Awakens fix in creative ways, as a girl can only shell out so much cash to see it on the big screen.

Enter the Twitter account that stole my heart: Emo Kylo Ren (Yes, yes, I can hear some of you asking how that’s any different from regular Kylo Ren. Hush.). The tweets I’ve chosen to include here are spoiler-free, but be aware that the account regularly contains hints about very major spoilers. If you have seen TFA, rest assured most of his best tweets are hilarious plays on some of the big reveals we got.

All tweets are from the perspective of a school-aged Kylo Ren who pairs “emo kid” references with Star Wars people and events.

In the few days since launching, Emo Kylo Ren has skyrocketed to 140K followers. As a general PSA, if you spend a lot of time on Twitter and haven’t seen TFA yet, be careful when you see people retweeting his stuff, because as previously mentioned there are a lot of spoilers.

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1.) Abrams struck the perfect balance between highlighting the old cast while handing off the reins to the new generation.

2.) BB-8 got right everything that Jar Jar flubbed. He was a cute character that added humor and charm with loads of appeal for younger viewers, but he was never grating or obnoxious. Part of his success was the use of subtle visual humor rather than noise or big flamboyant gestures.

3.) The puppetry used for the aliens was phenomenal and gave The Force Awakens a real, lived-in feeling. They also blended seamlessly with the few times CGI was used to supplement or replace them.

4.) The villain displayed the petty aspect of the Dark side. He was a lot like I imagine Vader was when he first took on the mantle of his new identity.

5. Building on #4, nobody whined. I can confirm that The Force Awakens had a zero tolerance policy for whining. I suspect Abrams coached the newer cast members on how to act in scenes where they’re supposed to appear young and recalcitrant without the infernal, infuriating whining that made both the prequels and many of the early scenes in ANH with Luke so grating to watch.

5.) We got to see another side to the stormtroopers. They are omnipresent in the original trilogy, but we never got to see the humanity of these iconic figures until now.

6.) The New Order looked even more visually stunning than the original Empire.

7.) There were plenty of female characters, in both major and minor roles. Female aliens. Female pilots. A female villain. Females everywhere. It was glorious.

8.) The space battles were amazing. I must confess, in recent years I’ve become bored with a lot of fight and action scenes in blockbuster movies. They’ve all started blending together. But The Force Awakens kept them short, sweet, and visceral. The occasional bone-jarring boom of Star Destroyer cannons was also a wonderful addition to break up the normally high-pitched sound design of Star Wars space battles.

9.) The original cast members were allowed to show their age.

10.) The Force Awkens felt like Star Wars. I try not to hate on the prequels because plenty of people I genuinely like are huge fans, but to me those films just never felt like Star Wars. Everything in the Force Awakens, from the more subdued color palette to the characters felt like they were truly born of the Star Wars saga.

As another installment of the journey to The Force Awakens, Disney Lucasfilm Press released four stand-alone novellas by Landry Q. Walker. All are subtitled Tales From A Galaxy Far Away, and are part of the same series as The Perfect Weapon.

All four are compact stories that take place far outside the purview of the main Star Wars film characters and storyline. As they’re so short, I decided to review all four here instead of creating individual posts for each story.

All Creatures Great and Small: First up, we have a tale with a unique concept. It centered around an elderly storyteller with an affinity for communicating with small creatures. It had a Jim Henson vibe that I found particularly enjoyable. The hero was a very original choice in a franchise that’s usually dominated by swaggering blaster-wielders and powerful Force users. There were also plenty of fun and funky alien pets for the Star Wars fauna lovers to enjoy. This was definitely my favorite of the four tales.

The Face of Evil: This was by far my least favorite of the series. Everything about it fell flat. The lead was a cardboard cutout with motivations that were hard to believe. All her decisions defied logic. The ending was extremely obvious from early on and it just felt cheesy when the dramatic reveal was made. There was also a really bizarre attempt to cram in a Frankenstein parody, complete with a hunchbacked assistant supposed to be an Igor stand-in aiding the mad scientists who used bolts of lightening to bring life to their monstrous creations. There was no protagonist and nobody for the reader to actually care about.

High Noon of Jakku: This was an enjoyable read that chose a unique take. It opens with a show-down between the constable of a small barren town on Jakku and a rogue droid before pulling back to unfold the tale of how the two came to face off. There was a distinct Western flavor that was a bit reminiscent of Firefly. It was a droid-heavy story, which is always a big hit with me personally.

The Crimson Corsair and the Lost Treasure of Count Dooku: Finally we have the story with the closest ties to the Prequel trilogy. There’s many references to the Clone Wars peppered throughout, which makes sense as this story has its roots there. As it was driven by the concept of the mysterious fate of a long-lost treasure, there wasn’t an abundance of characterization. The characters felt pretty flat, owing in part to the fact that there was a bigger cast of main characters than in the other stories; nobody got much time for the audience to connect with them.

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Star Wars: The Perfect Weapon by Delilah S. Dawson is the first in a series of novellas being released as part of the journey to The Force Awakens. It was a mostly solid entry in the series with two minor exceptions.

While the main character Bazine Netal was likable enough, she felt a bit like the Generic Strong Female Character so common in science fiction in general and Star Wars in particular. After reading Dark Disciple a few months ago, I can’t help but feel like she bears a strong similarity to Asajj Ventress, though that could also be attributed to some similarities in the narrative.

The ending felt like a bit of a let down as well, but for the sake of remaining spoiler-free I won’t go into detail. It wasn’t necessarily a bad ending but it lacked a certain sense of satisfaction.

Aside from those two downsides, it was an enjoyable read that felt right for the price; it neither seemed rushed nor dragged on, striking a good balanced pace for a novella. Bazine had effective chemistry with the other characters in the book, particularly the is-he-or-isn’t-he potential traitor, Orri Tenro.

The Perfect Weapon delved a bit into what happened to Imperial stormtroopers after the New Republic came to power, giving tidbits to whet the appetite for The Force Awakens without revealing too much. We also got a few unique locations that felt very Star Wars-y, including some fun and gruesome alien fauna.

From the official blurb:

There are plenty of mercenaries, spies, and guns for hire in the galaxy. But probably none as dangerous and determined as Bazine Netal. A master of disguise—and lethal with a blade, a blaster, or bare handed—she learned from the best. Now it’s her turn to be the teacher—even if schooling an eager but inexperienced recruit in the tricks of her trade is the last thing she wants to do. But it’s the only way to score the ship she needs to pull off her latest job.

An anonymous client has hired Bazine to track down an ex-stormtrooper and recover the mysterious package he’s safeguarding. Payment for the mission promises to be astronomical, but the obstacles facing Bazine will prove to be formidable. And though her eager new sidekick has cyber skills crucial to the mission, only Bazine’s razor-sharp talents will mean the difference between success or failure—and life or death.

The Perfect Weapon, despite a few minor faults, was an enjoyable read and I look forward to the next few novellas in the series.

With Star Wars: The Force Awakens fast approaching and the World of Warcraft announcements regarding both the new expansion, Legion, and the upcoming Warcraft film, I find that a lot of the arguments and negative comments I’ve seen surrounding both of these franchises tend to have similarities.

Warlords of Draenor is widely believed to be the worst expansion of the game’s history, resulting in almost record breaking lows in their subscription numbers. Though the Star Wars prequels have received much more acclaim and a colossal following, they cleaved the fandom in half to an extent that few franchises have ever experienced.

Disclaimer before I continue: while I genuinely dislike the prequels themselves, I hold no animosity or disparaging feelings towards the people who prefer them. I wish it didn’t even need to be said, but in light of Simon Pegg’s comments about prequel fans on top of the general animosity they already often experience, I feel it’s important to make that clear up front. And if you’re a fan of the original trilogy who can’t make a case against a few movies you dislike without directing vitriol at the human beings who enjoy them, I invite you to kindly grow the bleep up. In the words of Wil Wheaton, don’t be a dick.

Both Star Wars and World of Warcraft are in the midst of many expectations surrounding the next installments of their sagas. Fans like myself who were let down by the prequels are hoping for a second chance at building on the original trilogy and finally re-experiencing the excitement we used to associate with the franchise as a whole. Prequel fans are hoping the emphasis on preserving the feel of the original trilogy won’t result in Abrams discarding everything introduced in episodes one through three. In realm of Azeroth, Warcraft fans are desperately hoping that Legion signals a change back to content-rich expansions and lore that has actual relevance to the main story that has been built up for the past 20 years.

I’ve noticed a lot of comments that seem to imply a dichotomy between embracing hope and managing expectations. Many people seem to think the best defense against false hope is a good offense and relish listing in detail everything that could possibly go wrong and how they won’t believe in positive changes until they see them.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” is a common mantra. J.J. Abrams promises and emphasis on real scenery and traditional SFX over pure CGI? “I’ll believe it when I see it!”Warcraft devs promise that dungeons will be more challenging and function as true end game content? “I’ve heard that before! I’ll believe it when I see it!”

I get it, I do. Hell, I’ve even been that person on occasion (*cough* Horde pvp this expansion *cough*). But I still think it’s the wrong attitude to take.

We’ve all heard and perhaps even espoused the concept of going in with low expectations in the hopes of being presently surprised. The problem with that attitude, however, is that the mind is malleable to suggestion, most especially to suggestions that come from inside our own heads. Telling yourself for months on end that you expect to be let down can have a very real effect on how you perceive something.

I’ve been let down by Warlords, to say the least (and being a newish player who only really started playing halfway through Mists of Pandaria, I recently had the depressing realization that by the time Legion comes out Warlords will have made up the majority of time playing Warcraft). But the funny thing is I had very low expectations going in; I was never a big Orc fan and Metzen’s description of the expansion as a “boys’ trip” was a tremendous turnoff. Managing my expectations did nothing to soften the blow of how awful the expansion turned out. I was perhaps a victim of hype as a tween going in to see The Phantom Menace, but I had managed my expectations sufficiently by the time Revenge of the Sith came around and that did nothing to increase my enjoyment of the film.

So I’m going to embrace positive thinking in the lead up to The Force Awakens and Legion. Spending weeks or months griping and wringing my hands and thinking up new and creative ways to be disappointing isn’t going to inoculate me with some mystical protection against disappointment. It will just mean that I have wasted weeks and months out of my life being unhappy about something I have no power to change, and that sounds like an appalling waste. I choose to spend the upcoming time savoring my happy anticipation.

At Blizzcon a few weeks ago, I was struck by how enthusiastic everyone was. All the grim predictions I’d heard about how people would surely boo Metzen off the stage or that there’s be loads of awkward and embarrassing silences whenever the Warcraft devs took the stage never materialized. And I was then equally struck by how the exact same announcements were met with endless pissing and moaning and outrage online once I got back home and started browsing the Warcraft forums.

Humans being social creatures, we take our cues from the people around us, no matter how we’d like to think we’re far too intelligent and individual to ever be susceptible to our peers’ influence. I’m making the conscious effort to spend my time and energy in places that will reinforce the positive attitude I wish to continue fostering. Things like Star Wars and Warcraft bring me joy and feed the majority of my social connections. I have a choice, as does everyone, to focus on the good and the positive.

And in case it has been unclear, I am in no way suggesting anyone should not bring critical thought to films or games, or that they should try to force themselves to enjoy something. What I’m arguing for is a move away from the mindset of nitpicking and bemoaning the fate of a piece of entertainment we have not seen yet. There’s time enough to criticize something after you’ve at least experienced it.

There’s a lot of great things coming in the following months. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the first course of a veritable feast of media juggernauts beloved by Geeks. Avengers: Civil War. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Warcraft. Ghostbusters. Deadpool. Suicide Squad. Grousing about what could go wrong won’t make you like them any more. You’ll like them or you won’t, but the time you spend feeding negativity can never be recovered.

Launched as part of the “Journey To The Force Awakens” multimedia campaign, Shattered Empire begins in the final moments of Return of the Jedi and takes off from there. A fast-paced space battle kicks the story off before the familiar post-Death Star celebration begins.

The story is divided fairly evenly between the original cast and the new. It was interesting and well-paced. It’s weakness is the ending, which honestly didn’t feel like a logical stopping point. If it weren’t for the tiny words “to be continued” at the bottom of the last panel, you’d have no clue the issue was about to end. While I think the series will be strong overall, the individual issues are likely meant to be read in a single sitting.

The art is gorgeous and remains strong throughout. Building on the theme of balancing the old with the new, the colors struck a balance between the more subdued tones of the McQuarrie-inspired original trilogy and the bright saturated look of the prequels and Clone Wars series, without favoring one over the other.

The final three issues of the four issue series will be released on October 7th, 14th, and 21st.

As a final note: Ewok-haters beware that they have a fairly substantial presence. Also, please grow a heart and learn to love the furry little guys. They’re cute and murderous, the two very best things anything can be.

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Star Wars was out in Force today (see what I did there?) to celebrate the kick-off of the Force Awakens campaign. We’re about four and a half months away from the release of the next installment of the Star Wars saga and Disney clearly wants everybody to know about it.

The Disney Store, Toys-R-Us, Target, and Amazon all had special events lined up to celebrate Force Friday. Toys-R-Us and Target both opened their doors at midnight to crowds eager for a few commemorative trinkets and the first crack at new toys, while Disney Stores opened at 6am with a slew of family-friendly events such as an R2-D2 craft, story time, and a card game give away. Sadly the biggest bashes featuring celebrity guests were reserved for a select few locations in major cities, but I’m always a sucker for midnight release parties.

While it was an enjoyable experience, it was rather unfortunate that Toys-R-Us had only a few of each item in stock. I know companies do this on purpose to generate buzz and reinforce a sense of value, but it was a poor way to repay the loyalty of customers who spent two hours in line.

The excited atmosphere maintained through the wait evaporated quickly as all but the first few people in line were greeted with mostly bare shelves; the store allowed each person to take three of any character, and those at the front of the line didn’t hesitate to fill their carts to the disappointment of everyone behind them. I heard several people in line comment that they were just buying a few things they weren’t even sure they really wanted, because all the items they’d come for had been taken and they didn’t want leave empty-handed after spending so much time in line in the middle of the night. That’s not an effective way to hype people for the launch of new merchandise.

Still, I hope Disney keeps up the theme of big release parties for major Star Wars events. With a just a little tweaking to ensure a more positive experience for everybody, it can be a very fun way for Star Wars fans to meet and play for a few hours.